Humanity is Overrated
by Lil Lost Lady
Summary: Caroline Forbes was a newly turned half vampire, one that just couldn't resist the need to feed so she killed someone, only it wasn't Stefan who found and helped her but a certain group of Lost Boys instead. One-shot, for now. TVD/TLB Crossover


_**Humanity is Overrated**_

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Lost Boys or Vampire Dairies **

**Author's Note: First off, I wanted to let the readers know I've changed things to make these two settings fit in my story, The Lost Boys 'live' in California while the Vampire Diaries crew live in Virginia that's around a 38-hour drive or so. These are fictional places but located in two real world places, thus for how I want this story to go I'm moving the Vampire Diaries crew to California about an hour out from where The Lost Boy's Santa Carla would be located if it was real, I looked up a place called Maple Falls which is an hour away like I said and it's real but we're gonna pretend for the sake of the story that in place of Maple Falls is Mystic Falls. ****One last note the vampire lore will be a mix of The Lost Boys and The Vampire Diaries, thanks for reading.**

**Not Beta'd.**

* * *

Chapter 1: The Thirst

The sounds of the carnival rides never really change, they're the same now as they were thirty years prior but still 'The Lost Boys' prowl around these familiar grounds nearly nightly, it's a good place to pick off tourists it always has been.

Only they had to be more aware of their surroundings now due to the advance of technology, cell phones were particularly annoying.

"See anyone tasty yet?" Marko asked the blonde vampire beside him, "Hmm, I'm in the mood for a red-head." Paul's eyes scanned the crowd all the while ignoring the flirty looks coming his way from a couple of girls a few feet away.

"A real one? That might be a challenge," David drawls before taking another drag off of his cigarette.

"Let's see who can find one first?" Marko grinned at the thought of making a game of it, "It's always a contest with you two, alright what does the winner get?" Dwayne enquired.

"The red-head obviously!" Paul exclaimed, Dwayne just shrugged not caring either way as Marko snickered, "Not good enough how abo-" Paul cuts Marko off mid-sentence which earned him an annoyed look, "Wait a minute how will we know if that's their real hair color or not."

"Use your stupid nose, stupid." Marko pouted still bummed out about being cut off.

"You should be able to tell at a glance but if your eyes are failing you then yes your nose _should_ work," David mocked with a smirk.

"Oh right, ya I totally knew that."

"_Of course_, _you did,_" the words are dripping in sarcasm before they mellowed out to a cheerful tone, "that's why you're the brains of the group." Marko insulted him once more.

Paul made to grab at him only to have the other blonde dodge his attack, "Knock it off, I thought we were going to try and find a nice red-head to eat." David butted his cigarette before placing the remaining portion behind his ear.

"Well, she doesn't have to be nice." Paul stopped and winked at David with an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle, "if you know what I mean."

"So, terms what are they?" Dwayne questioned before David can get annoyed with Paul's antics, "I know the losers could-" Paul doesn't get to finish his thought because Marko chimed in this time, "Hey do you guys smell that?"

Paul sends him a 'you did that on purpose look' but Marko's attention is elsewhere, "Now I do."

Realizing that he wasn't interrupted because of some petty revenge he sniffed quietly, "Smell what?"

"Blood." The bleach-blond leader says simply.

"A lot of it… someone's probably dying." Dwayne added.

"Let's go see!" Not waiting for an answer Marko took off.

"Might as well." David followed closely behind with Dwayne at his side.

Paul, on the other hand, followed them unenthusiastically, "What about going hunting for red-heads!?"

"Later." Given that David's word was pretty much law Paul just muttered, "…Fine." While silently pouting.

* * *

A few minutes earlier at a different part of the carnival, a young girl was struggling with something she didn't quite understand. No that was an understatement.

Caroline awoke that morning in the hospital to find the sun extremely irritating and given that she was in the hospital that left out the option of putting on any sunglasses. She'd even yelled at Matt her sweet ex-boyfriend for trying to open the curtains, it was just she was so tired, and her head hurt even worse than her eyes or maybe because of her newly sensitive eyes.

The car accident must've put some pressure on her resulting in this new sensitivity, it would also explain the headache.

The blonde was tired all day long as well but that was normal right? She'd just gotten into an accident so that had to be normal. Even being grossed out by the food wasn't unusal it was as Matt said hospital food.

What wasn't normal was that she was still hungry even after she forced herself to eat the foul stuff. Between the tiredness, the pain in her stomach and her all around need to get out of the hospital by nightfall she felt confused and not at all like herself.

That wasn't even considering her necklace… it had burned her and that couldn't be down to the accident or bad food. A new allergy? That was the closest thing she could think of, but it didn't seem right either.

"Stop it, stop it…" she muttered under her breath as if the words spoken aloud would help her close off her thoughts.

That line of thought led her to the other thing, the one thing that proved beyond a doubt that something was wrong. Really wrong with her. The blood bag… after eating that disgusting food she couldn't help but smell the blood and she shouldn't have but the worse thing wasn't that she could smell it but that it smelt good… and she'd wanted it. As if that hadn't scared her enough…

But worse still, she drank it.

And she liked it.

A lot.

It was amazing.

It was terrifying.

Her face had started to change some, first her eyes and then her teeth it all happened so fast and then it was gone leaving her wanting to cry.

Then later when the nurse stopped in to check on her, she stared at her neck and felt the overwhelming need to bite it. The teenager could see the vein pulsing and practically hear it as well.

Thank goodness, the nurse left when she did because the young blonde girl had no idea what would've happened if she hadn't.

Getting herself checkout wasn't as hard as she thought it'd be either, she seemed to be able to convince the nurse sitting at the counter easily enough that she should be let out. If the woman sounded strangely robot-like with her responses the high schooler had chosen to ignore this.

Caroline had more important things on her mind even if the idea of maybe sort of controlling someone to do what she wanted was a neat side effect of this all.

So, when nightfall came the teen left the hospital and came here where she was now at the carnival. It was where her friends were and having helped put together a fun event at the carnival for her classmates and friends she should be here. This should be her night.

"It's not though…" Caroline whispered shakily to herself.

She was starting to remember things, things that Damon told her… things he did to her. Things he made her forget. It wasn't all back those missing memories; some things were blurred but she could make sense of it all for the most part.

She was less confused now, no now she felt angry.

He was a vampire.

_She_ was a vampire.

That's why she drank the blood bag.

That's why she was hungry.

She needed blood.

No, she needed to leave, get back to the hospital get another blood bag. Yes, that's what she'd do.

That's when she rounded the corner and smelt it, _blood_.

No!

"No, no, no, this can't be happening."

Caroline looked over and there he was, a guy tending to his bleeding nose sitting on the edge of the back of a truck bed.

He noticed her; he was saying something to her.

He was a person, he was a living, breathing, speaking person. Yet he smelled so good.

She could feel her fangs come out.

She was crying, when did she start crying?

It didn't matter.

He did.

"I'm so sorry." She cried, was it for him or her she couldn't tell.

There was no more room to think.

She lunged.

* * *

Sitting at the edge of the bed of the truck with the dead body now behind her the newly turned vampire just waited trying not to think but failing. Damon should be at the carnival and so should Stefan meaning that any minute now they should smell the blood.

And then what?

Suddenly, she saw four unfamiliar figures approaching.

Caroline didn't know what to do, what to say so she just kept her head down.

They were silent until one of them jumped up into the truck bed to get a look at the body.

"Not the best place to kill someone gotta get rid of the truck now too." The one examining the body said while walking around behind her.

"Could always hose it down." A second male voice added.

"Where would you find a hose around here?" A third voice man questioned.

Their words barely reached her, but the parts that did seemed to shock her out of her silence and her shoulders began to shake.

She was crying again, "Whoa, is she crying?" The voice behind her seemed surprised at her reaction.

"I think so."

"Must be new." The sound of a lighter reaches her ears after this new voice speaks but she continued to cry. The girl was feeling herself becoming slightly more hysterical all the while.

"A first kill you think?"

"If that's the case her sire is really irresponsible letting her do it alone."

She managed to find her voice after a few more choked sobs, "W-who are y-you and what d-do you want?" Her tears haven't subsided, but she was doing her best to push through them, these guys were way to calm given the situation so that can only mean one thing.

"Y-you're vampires." Her voice was quiet, but they heard her clearly.

"Bingo girly!" The blonde vampire with the longest hair says much too cheerfully. He was wearing a semi-formal jack that didn't really fit their surroundings with the excessive belts over his light-colored pants add the long hair and it made him look more like some kind of rocker than a guy going to a formal dinner.

"And so are you." The voice beside her declares so Caroline finally lifts her face and looks at the one that jumped up into the truck bed with her who is now seated beside her patting her shoulder in a mocking way.

His hair is also blonde but curly were as the other boy's had straighter hair. His smile was nice, but she knew that lurking behind it was a deadly pair of teeth just like her own. She also couldn't help but notice the unique looking jacket he was sporting, even as messed up as she felt she loved fashion so seeing his own outlandish style had caught her attention.

He seemed to be the first to notice that her face was covered in blood, "You should probably clean up, nothing screams I killed someone like being covered in their blood you know." He winked as he spoke his otherworldly vampire advice.

Caroline's watery eyes widened as she looked away and started to try and scrub her face with her arm to clean it with little success. All she was doing was smearing it further.

"Nice one Marko, now she's panicking again."

And she was her whole body was shaking, she was breathing hard, and the tears were back. Despite the tears, it wasn't helping her to clean the blood off her face.

"Come on I didn't mean to!" The one whose name she now vaguely knew through her frantic mind as Marko yelled at the other vampire, before saying in a gentler tone, "Hey, stop crying okay I mean you look hot covered in blood so no need to freak out about it right?"

It certainly didn't have the effect he was hoping for but the new vampire did stop trying to clean her face however now her crying had a slight hysterical laughter added into the mix.

"I look h-hot." This had to be the most absurd night of her life.

She woke up a vampire, remembered far from pleasant memories, killed someone, and been told that she looked hot covered in the blood of the person she'd just killed.

This was a nightmare.

One she knew she wouldn't wake up from.

So, she cried.

And she laughed.

Well Caroline was always a multitasker.

"Well, the hot ones usually have a screw loose so it's really no surprise." The boy, no the vampire beside her stated while patting her on her shoulder.

The boy's leader speaks up then, "Boys we're about to have company if we stick around for much longer."

"Santa Carla is certainly about to get much more interesting." The only dark-haired vampire among them stated.

With a sigh, the rocker vampire speaks, "Guess the redheads will just have to wait another night."

After the one vampire made a comment about redheads the four of them are gone faster than she can blink, and Caroline is suddenly alone again with only the dead body behind her for company.

It's that thought that makes her tears flow steadily until a second later when another vampire appears, one she knows.

"D-Damon…"

The last person, no not a person… thing she wanted to see right now was him.

Caroline wanted to rage at him, attack him, vent her frustration at the world but as much as she hated him for what he'd done to her at the moment she hated herself just a little bit more.

"He's dead… I killed him."

Why the girl was stating the obvious she didn't know, he obviously knew that she had been the one to kill him the evidence spoke for itself. She didn't want to be like this anymore, didn't want to feel like this anymore.

She wanted to be normal, not a vampire.

"What's wrong with me?"

Her breathing was getting heavy again.

Could vampires have panic attacks?

Caroline knew she was a vampire but maybe some part of her hadn't yet accepted it as fact. He was now holding her hand with one of his and rubbing his thumb over the back of it and it was all confusing her. Was he trying to be comforting? Damon tells her that he'll help her and as much as she hated him, she wanted to believe in him in this moment.

"You can?" Her disbelief about whether he could or would help her was still ever present, "Ya I have to." His voice wasn't reassuring to her and he was smiling and that was worrying. Caroline's instinct and past experiences told her that he could not be trusted, "What are you gonna do?"

Part of her wondered if it mattered what he planned to do to her, after all what could be worse than what she was feeling right now.

"The only thing I can do," He moves her hair from her face before softly saying, "I'm gonna kill you."

She sees the stake now, it's beside her leg as his hand is cupping her check. The baby vampire breathing gets harder and her eyes widen slightly at the realization that she could be killed and that she doesn't want to be which is exactly what she tells him.

Caroline carefully slides down of off the truck's bed to the ground to face him and make her plea, "Please don't, I don't want to die."

"Yeah but you're already dead." He tells her this so smugly, if she wasn't so upset and frightened right now the teenager would probably have smacked him for it.

"No, I'm not!" Anger was quickly becoming the emotion that was finding its way to the forefront of her turbulent emotional outbursts, "Don't say that!"

It didn't last long though before fear and sadness came back full force, "Okay just help me, okay just…" She looked to the stake in his hand before looking back into his eyes, "just help me please!?"

Damon's lack of response prompted her to get more desperate with her cries.

"Please, please!?" She was becoming hysterical again which was why his insincere 'okays' and hug didn't tip her off that something was wrong. "You're gonna be okay." The dark-haired vampire rubbed her back once more during the hug all the while whispering to her now in a comforting manner. It helps to get her breathing under control if only slightly when she's suddenly yanked out of the hug by none other than one of the vampires from earlier while another one has a hold of Damon's hand which held the stake from before… in a raised position.

It doesn't take long to conclude what he was about to do to her; she doesn't understand how she feels at that moment. Angry, scared, confused, exhausted all of the above.

Caroline looks away from Damon and the blonde vampire with the out of date mullet towards the one that pulled her out of harm's way.

It was the curly haired one that had been patting her shoulder before they took off, what she didn't know was that they hadn't really left just hid themselves to watch and see what would happen and only intervened at the last minute.

"Why?" She whispered to the one who's hold she's still in, "Why help me?"

His eyes which were on the other vampires glanced to her as he spoke, "You said you didn't want to die right?" Caroline's eyes widened. Unable to say anything she nods just as tears start to fall again. "Oh, come on don't cry again!"

The dark-haired vampire from earlier was suddenly beside her and Marko to help offer his silent comfort while the rocker who was not confronting Damon tells her, "Your sire's a douche."

While this was happening, Damon was confronting the other vampire while they struggle over the stake, "Who the hell are you?"

"The head vampire around this turf, so learn some manners!" With that he punches Damon away and jumps back, Damon almost goes back after the blonde since he still has the stake in hand but then he notices the other vampires behind him ready to back him up.

"…So, you're the Santa Carla vampires then… I was excepting less rock band rejects and a more threatening visage to be honest."

"If you want threatening we'd be happy to oblige." The leader grinned wickedly his face slowly changing from his human façade. Damon doesn't relax but glances towards Caroline who backs away as his eyes fall on her. She just wanted this to be over, why wouldn't he just leave.

"What are you going to do with her?" He motioned the stake towards Caroline making her flinch involuntarily.

The leader doesn't answer but asks instead, "Do you care?"

"No… but I know her." He sighed, "She's a liability one that won't be able to control herself, if I don't take care of her now then it's a security risk… for all of us."

Caroline couldn't stop herself the hate she felt towards him was at an all-time high and outweighed her fear just long enough to tell him exactly what she thinks. "You know me, you think you know me!?" The new vampire spits out spitefully, "News flash Damon you don't know a god dammed thing about me!" She was shouting now, "Sure you know my some of my insecurities, but that's not who I am! You never took the time to get to know me, the real me!" The baby vampire was looking her sire dead in the eye and speaking her mind for the first time since they met.

"You used your freaky vampire powers on me almost from the start," Her voice was calmer now and she didn't even notice all the eyes were on her, "You manipulated me, you pushed me around, abused me, erased my memories… fed on me." Her voice was steady but less calm.

"The memories are coming back in pieces so that's just what I remember right now."

"Are you done yet?" Damon asked bored, "No… I'm not." She glared at him, "You suck!" The curly haired vampire beside her was the first to crack a laugh and the others soon joined in, "You tell him girl!" The only dark-haired vampire in the group cheers, "That was pretty cool, we will have to work on your insults though." Came the response from the vampire beside her, who she only now noticed was still holding onto her but only just, she could get out of his grasp easily enough.

"So, you grew a backbone it doesn't change anything, you will mess up and your new _friends_ will be forced to clean up the mess." Caroline was pretty sure he was referring to her as the mess, but she just glared, "I won't." Even though she wasn't sure she could keep from killing anyone she wouldn't let Damon know that.

"If you stay with them you won't learn control, in fact you'll lose your humanity that much faster." The only girl vampire in the mix wasn't going to listen to him, even if she didn't know these vampires the teenager was pretty sure that they wouldn't hurt her at least they had no reason to but then what reason did Damon have?

"As opposed to going with you and losing her life." The leader stated his face back to normal as he calmly lit a cigarette, "Fine. She's your problem now." With that he leaves without another word.

"…Thank you." Caroline moved from the one vampire's grip to look at them all.

The leader breathes out some smoke and smirks, "You can thank us by not crying again."

"Yeah if you cry anymore you might make Marko cry." The other blonde that wasn't the leader or Marko joked, "I don't cry, take that back Paul."

So, she knew two of their names now, "David, and that's Dwyane." Startled the baby vampire looked to the newly named David, "Your mind is easy to read right now, your way too emotional to hide anything."

"You're reading my mind." She didn't like it and that was apparent with her face and tone alone.

He sighed, "Like I said your mind is open I don't even have to try it's like you are projecting them."

"Just to you or…" The new vampire glanced around, "Yeah, we can all hear you."

"…How can I stop projecting?" The blonde girl wasn't happy with the idea of all these guys just knowing every thought that passed her mind especially with her mind in its current state, even she didn't want to be in it let alone have strangers tramping about inside.

"Takes practice but for now just calm your mind and it should help." The leader David instructed.

Taking a few deep breathes to try and calm her racing mind did nothing for her, she was still a wreck inside and she knew it and that meant that they did as well. "I… I don't know how."

"You feel way too much about a blood bag that you didn't even personally know." Marko stated but then gets a thoughtful look on his face, "I see… you didn't care for him; the guilt comes from the fact that you liked killing him not that you did."

Caroline did her best not to flinch at the correct analyzation so instead glared at him, "Stop it, don't read my mind." Marko just shrugged as if to say, 'I can't help it' and the baby vampire supposed he couldn't, but it felt better to place the blame on him than on herself.

"We will stop once you accept it." David said making the teenager remember that it wasn't only Marko who had heard her thoughts just then.

"Accept what?" She asked tiredly.

David's smile wasn't reassuring, "You're a killer now." Caroline could feel her breathing start to pick back up, "No… I-I didn't mean too! I don't want to be."

"That's your humanity talking." Dwyane added helpfully.

"You don't need it anymore; you aren't human just turn it off." Paul continued, this got her attention, "Turn it off?" Was it really so simple?

David nodded while still calmly smoking his cigarette, "Your humanity, it's only holding you back and only making you feel bad about what comes natural to you."

"But…" That wasn't right she knew that doing that would be wrong just like killing was.

"Why do you want to keep it? It's only hurting you now isn't it?" Marko chimed in.

For a while she didn't say anything, and the boys looked to be having a silent conversation between themselves. While this was taking place, she wondered if her thoughts were still available to them, they didn't say anything. Then there was Paul who had walked a few feet away, but she barely took notice of what he was doing at first but upon taking a closer look he was taking care of the scene of the crime.

Her crime.

She couldn't stay quiet any longer, "I-I'm afraid."

David raised his eyebrows, "Of what?"

The baby vampire didn't want to voice it so instead she took out some of her frustration on him, "Why not just read my mind!?"

David's smirk was back in place she hadn't noticed he had lost it until now, "I don't need to your mind is already screaming at me."

Well that answered weather they could still hear her even when the boys were silently talking amongst themselves.

"Then you already know why I'm afraid, so you don't need me to tell you."

"No, I don't but you need to say it." David tells her with his eyes looking straight into her own, she knew from Damon that eye contact would only help them to have control. Still she didn't feel any sort of influence and she was pretty sure she would know if someone tired it on her again. Perks of being a vampire, the only one as far as she was concerned.

"Why?"

"Because until you do, I won't help you." She was beginning to think that he and Damon might have similar personality traits but quickly pushed the thought to the side hoping that was one thought that he didn't catch.

Caroline knew she had to answer otherwise they'd be here until she did or until the sun became an issue. "…I'm scared of not being myself of losing what it means to be human. To be me." David didn't sugar coat it, "You already have, you are not human any longer." It was plain as day or night in this case that his words had a certain 'just accept it already' tagged onto them.

Just as she thought that would be the end of the conversation Marko added, "You are still you and turning off any guilt or sympathy isn't going to make you stop being yourself, I promise."

He did sound sincere, but he was a vampire so could she really trust his words let alone the sincerity in his tone? Being a vampire now herself she should probably wonder about her own trust-ability.

David's next words reminded her that her thoughts were still not her own, how she was able to forget that for even an instant she couldn't say, stress was one possibility.

"Trust us and we will show you how to not only survive in this new life of yours but thrive in it as well." That sounded like something the devil would ask her, that might be why the next words came out so easily, "…and all I have to do is give up my soul?" David laughed, "If your guilt, regret, and sympathy for our food source is what consists of a soul then you don't really need it anyways." That does sound ridiculous when said like that, a soul should be more than that but what did she know about souls?

"How do I do it?" The blonde teenager was only asking for reference she wasn't going to do it at least that's what she told herself.

"Simple, just will it so and it's done." That was simple, maybe too simple.

Paul was back now, and she only took note of it when he added, "It's more freeing than you can imagine."

"So just want it and that's all it takes?" Caroline wasn't sure if this was what she wanted but she was a vampire now and she had killed once already, and she couldn't take it back. A part of her didn't want to because as Marko had said she liked it even though it was wrong, it didn't have to feel that way though.

Did she really want to keep this up, she was a vampire now so why not be a vampire? It was wrong and selfish but, in a minute, maybe that wouldn't matter anymore.

Caroline closed her eyes and just like they said let it happen, it really was that easy. Opening her eyes, it was like she was looking at the world from a completely different point of view. The boys all cheered as she smiled for the first time since they met, and she spoke to them without an ounce of the pain that was plaguing her all night.

"You guys were right… humanity is overrated." The fact that she still had blood on her face didn't bother her though she could have done without the tear stains.

"Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet have I?" The boys all laughed and cracked a joke or two but she just rolled her eyes and continued on since it's the polite thing to do even if they did pick up her name from her thoughts already, "I'm Caroline, nice to meet all of you!"

* * *

**Author's Note: I'm considering keeping this as one-shot but maybe if enough people want I can continue it at some point of course if I do Caroline will end up with one of the boys so feel free to chime in about who you think would my a good match for her as well! Thanks for reading.**


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